I just saw the Stan's product, it does look like what I wanted ideally, but I didn't read enough positive feedback to take the plunge. Not that i saw any negative, i just didn't see much. Plus their site is very basic, not much info, nothing like LCEs.

I did see a couple videos by a guy pretty thorough with his camera. He showed the DT header flange, and how the surface was not actually flush with the round edges of the pipes that are mated to it. His review of the LCE, he was raving about fitment being excellent. Then I read the difference between DT headers, vs. "Headers by Doug". Different company! He doesn't make a Toyota application anymore. Boo...

There's another vid online comparing a 4-2-1 style to a 4-1, but on a Honda. Their dyno tests showed they both performed the same below 4k rpm. So with that i was OK with foregoing the tri-y. plus the constant praise of LCE's here, it seemed the safest choice.

Again my reason to go with headers isn't really pursuit of better performance but better durability. I'm hoping this is the last exhaust I buy for this truck. Not trying to squeeze blood from a stone, I just want my stone to keep on rolling! Ha!

Now my puzzle is which Magnaflow stainless muffler? 3-chamber or single-through? oval or round? That's my web search topic for today...

Truck came stock with round. But is that the quietest? Hmmm...

 

Well I just got the truck back home.

Man, seems you can't rely on anyone to be an expert anymore. Now that I have it home, I see i have two problems:

- muffler sounds a little too "fartcan" over 40mph
- O2 sensor has been put in AFTER the cat

Seems he took the LCE 4wd connector pipe and cut it to fit the little cat he used. He put the bung for the sensor behind it.

The muffler IS large. And quiet at idle. But put your foot into it and it's raspy. He suggested putting in a resonator if I wanted it quieter as I left. But now I'm wondering if this is the right model muffler since he made such a simple mistake on this O2. This cannot go behind the cat.

Waiting on a phone call back to hear what he'll offer to resolve this.

Seems I went to the shop based on the dad's reputation and got the son's noob work. I guess I screwed up again picking a service provider. =(

What really burns me about this, is I stuck with this shop because I thought he knew Toyota, and he said he knew another Toyota specialist too I was interested in speaking to. When I finally got that specialist's contact info, it turns out it's the guy I used to go to, but don't anymore because he wouldn't warranty a timing cover leak after only 4k miles.

For $100 hr, can't people just do a decent job anymore?

 

sorry you had a bad experience.

I have no comments to what it chopped/spliced onto your brand new header... hopefully he will at least honor moving the o2 sensor to the correct location - anyone who works on cars should know the basics of that one.

muffler you can pretty much switch to whatever style you like, i think it only affects sound quality. A resonator at the end will definitely change the sound, i know a lot of cars nowadays have them to make them quiet.

 

Well I got my O2 in the right spot now. I asked him about a resonator and he said he'd have to order one to fit. I suppose I'll just learn to live with the sound instead. I don't want to go back.

Header $400
Cat, muffler, install, fabricate tailpipe, $800
Aggravation, free!

What's really irritating is over a month ago, my first post said I wanted it done right. I researched, went to shops and talked to people. Figured out which parts I wanted. And somehow still in the end I'm feeling like...

Ah whatever.
Keep working on your own trucks, guys, as long as you're able.

 

Dang! That's expensive! I got a TG Rock Ripper stainless header for $300 then welded up my own exhaust with a braided stainless flex pipe, aluminized piping and a Thrush muffler. In all, I probably only spent $400 on my full exhaust.

 

Yeah I dropped $500 on mine and thought it was a lot when my CAT was stolen- all new free flow system, cat and muffler, from Stock header-back from local shop

Our trucks deserve a little attention now and then. Hobbies are expensive and you gotta pay to play. You may have paid extra on this job but I'm sure you'll score on something else, it evens out.